PCAOB Chair Williams’ Statement on the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan and the 2023 Budget

Remarks as prepared for delivery

I am pleased to support the 2022 – 2026 Strategic Plan and the 2023 Budget to support our mission to protect investors.

Our strategic plan is the product of extensive analysis and outreach.

We crafted the strategic plan with input from investors and other stakeholders, including our two newly established advisory groups – the Investor Advisory Group and Standards and Emerging Issues Advisory Group; perspectives from our staff of expert professionals; and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Then we issued a draft of the plan in August for public comment. Thank you to everyone who has provided valuable input throughout this process. We have considered your thoughts, priorities, and ideas, and you will see many of them reflected in the plan.

Today we will move forward as we finalize the strategic plan guided by our mission to protect investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate, and independent audit reports – the same mission Congress created the PCAOB to fulfill 20 years ago.

At the heart of our mission are the people who invest in public companies. Whether they are workers saving for retirement or parents saving to put their kids through college, people depend on a sound capital market system to build for their futures.

When we talk about protecting investors, this is who we mean. When we strive to uphold the highest standards in audit quality, it is with investors’ families, savings, and futures in mind.

The people we serve are top of mind in everything we do at the PCAOB – including the four goals in this plan:

1. Modernizing our standards,
2. Enhancing our inspections,
3. Strengthening our enforcement, and
4. Improving our organizational effectiveness.

The goals outlined in this plan are as fundamental as they are ambitious and will lead us to achieve our core mission.

I look forward to working with my fellow Board Members and the talented staff at the PCAOB as we execute this strategic plan.

Of course, achieving these goals will require appropriate resources. The 2023 budget provides those resources to allow us to effectively use the tools Congress gave the PCAOB under the law to advance our investor protection mission.

This budget provides for an increase in staff in our Office of the Chief Auditor to assist in the execution of our ambitious standard-setting agenda. As we advance our mission, it is imperative that we evaluate the standards that were adopted by the Board in 2003 on an interim basis to determine if changes are necessary to keep up with developments in the auditing profession and the capital markets.

Stakeholder feedback is also a critical component of standard setting. Therefore, this budget includes funding necessary to engage with our advisory groups on a regular basis throughout the year.

As it pertains to inspections, the budget provides resources that will allow us to enhance our work to assess whether accounting firms are complying with applicable laws, rules, and standards. As part of our inspection process, and consistent with our strategic plan, these resources will also assist us as we consider ways to provide greater transparency in our inspection reports, improve the timeliness of issuing such reports, identify opportunities to share useful guidance with the auditing profession, and increase our focus on firms’ remediation efforts.

From an enforcement perspective, there must be accountability for those who violate laws, rules, and standards. The budget provides us the resources to strengthen our enforcement program by using all the tools in our regulatory toolbox to conduct investigations and bring enforcement actions, to make sure the consequences are commensurate with the violations, to increase the transparency of our enforcement process where possible, and to work with other regulators as part of our enforcement efforts.

This budget also provides the resources necessary to improve the effectiveness of our organization. We would not be able to execute our mission without our talented staff, which is why this budget includes resources to enhance professional development, foster a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, and promote employee well-being. With these resources, we will also look for ways to improve our coordination across the organization and engage in more efficient decision making.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who played a role in developing our strategic plan and finalizing the 2023 budget. I would like to specifically thank my fellow Board Members and PCAOB staff for their collaboration on developing the strategic plan. I would also like to recognize our new Chief Operations Officer, Jamey McNamara, our Chief Financial Officer, Holly Greaves, our Budget Officer, Jim Hearn, and the rest of their team – Yoss Missaghian, Alfredo Azocar, Marcia Saavedra, and Lorene Rosenberg – along with the leadership of each of the Divisions and Offices for their efforts on the budget.

Lastly, I would like to thank the Commissioners and staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission for their support and guidance.